With the wee man old enough for camping trips etc now we’re starting to plan out the summer’s new normal of family camping setup… very aware that it’s going to involve a lot more stuff…

Instead of immediately jumping on the VW T5 bandwagon thought our Mondeo estate with roof box should be able to cart enough stuff about. The car already has roof rails.

So, any particular recommendations or things to watch our for with respect to roof bars and boxes? I had assumed I’d just go for something Thule but unsure about bar shape, box size etc…

Roofbox.co.uk is your friend

Do you have room to store a roof box? If so then get the biggest rigid box you can with your budget. You’ll never wish you had less space. You’ll need to drive around with it fitted on your camping trips though.

If you don’t have room to store the box then the Thule Ranger 90 soft box folds into a bag small enough to go in the boot of the car / in a cupboard or under a bed. I’ve been using mine for the annual trek form Glasgow to St Ives in Cornwall for the last 6 years and it’s been flawless. Fits to the bars / removed in two minutes.

Buy some Crane drybags form Aldi – about £10 each – 4 of these fully laden fill the Rnager 90 almost exactly. Makes loading it a breeze.

HTH

Good tips thanks.

I’ve been thinking about storage and have realised that in the continuous sliding puzzle of storage that is our house-garage-shed system that another shed is the only solution so will then have space to store roof box – hopefully in the roof apex…

Your ‘you’ll never wish you had less space’ is pretty well concordant with my thoughts 🙂

I looked into this last summer and found that Halfords ‘exodus’ range was the best deal. They are made by Thule so decent quality boxes.

Do people reckon the ‘aerobars’ are worth the extra or just go for old school square steel bars? I’d probably be good and try to take them off when not in use…

I have a long, narrow box for my Passat saloon. Room for the box + 2 bikes on the roof and the box gives a nice amount of extra space to supplement the boot. Doesn’t seem to impact on fuel economy too badly, I don’t know if that’s the case for all rof boxes or just the narrower ones. Wind noise also ok.

Hire if you can, there’s places all over the country that rent them out for not a lot relative to their cost. Saves space on storage, lets you get a feel for how big you need.

Bear in mind that most car roofs have a load rating (usually about 70kg) which includes the bars and box itself, and the box will have it’s own load rating. Ideally you want lighter, bulkier stuff up there, not least because you have to lift it up in the first place.

re: bars. I like aero bars as I tend to leave them on, the bike racks just slide on and off via the channels. If you’ll be removing the whole lot when not using them, I’d probably save the money and get square ones.

I have the Thule wingbars, can’t compare to the square bars as I’ve never had them, but the wingbars are very quiet on the car, however if it’s only for 1 trip per year I’d probably just buy the square ones.

I have a similar set up to Woody2000, a long narrow box (halfords own brand I think, bought it from DaveyBoyWonder off here) and a pair of Thule 591s fit alongside. I’ve only used the box once and that was on a trip to Edinburgh airport with 5 of us and all our kit for a weeks skiing holiday piled into the car, didn’t even bother trying to work out the impact on fuel economy for that one!

I use a pair of ratchet straps to hang it from the rafters in the garage roof when it’s not in use (so 99% of the time!)

Do you have room to store a roof box? If so then get the biggest rigid box you can with your budget. You’ll never wish you had less space.

This. Ours lives in the garage eaves. It’s worth paying extra for a box that opens from both sides – it’s much easier to fit it to the roof bars.

I was under the impression thule made a few boxes for other sellers. Some of the newer thule boxes have a grab mechanism for attaching to the bars that can be operated from inside the box. This saves threading a u bolt at tightening the bolts inside ( 2 man job unless you have a prop). I found a short wide more useful for side by side packing and also you can get bike wheels packed on top of the luggage.
Gas stut boxes stop the lid falling on your arms when packing. 2 sided opening boxes are handy.
Cant do without our one 🙂

As momo said, he has/I did have an Exodus roof box which was a cracking piece of kit. In fact I’m after another one but a smaller version for my Mini it was that good.

jemima, whereabouts are you? If you need roof bars and you’re car has the rails most estates come with I could do you a deal on my old bars as I’ll have to replace just about everything for my Mini anyway…

Hi, thanks – Inverness…

We got a HandiWorld HandiHoldAll (http://www.handiworld.com/handiholdall-49/handiholdall.html), which is a soft roof bag instead of a hard case. Upsides are that it’s cheap, folds down nice and small, and pretty damn huge at 320l capacity. It’s been up and down the country a few times when stuffed to the brim and is as good as new still.

Make sure you get a long one. You’ll want to put your skis in it at some point!

(Not bought for camping but you’ve given me an idea) When I bought a box I went to roofbox.co.uk – came away with Cruz bars (allegedly aero but tend to hum and whistle above 40mph when the box isn’t on) and a long and thin double-sided Kamei box, which swallows loads and has been superb for the annual run to the Côte d’Azur.

I can’t hang anything from the garage ceiling (asbestos) so it stands upright against the back wall.

Bars aside, whole lot including the buying experience has been superb.

I got a kemi one a few years ago. Narrow enough to get a couple f bikes next to it, wide enough for a body board or a surf board, long enough for skis. All round pretty sturdy. Useful on beach holidays, all the sandy wet stuff goes in the box. (except the kids)

Have an Exodus 470L roofbox we use on our mondeo (mk3.5 2l 130bhp) estate for trips for the last 12 years (lummee).

It sits upright on the floor of the shed when not in use.

We use thule squared bars and tbh I’ve never noticed any noise from them.

Usual motorway cruising at 120 or so and we get nearly 50mpg, tail gating a bit and we get nearer 55, with the roofbox it drops to 44mpg.

Tis really handy for long trips away – stick the large bulky but light stuff up there (80kg bar limit on car, 90kg limit on roof bars and 65kg limit for box), so prams, sports kits, kids toys, sleeping bags etc.

Mean you can stick the heavier regular in/out stuff in the boot (suitcases/laptops/bloody make up) and still be able to see out the back.

Roofbox is showing some scuff damage to the back where it’s been pulled along the floor abit – needs careful packing near the locking mech if filled with lots of stuff (ie unpacked xmas pressies), but considering how old it is there is another 10 years in it.